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J. M. BROCK. ACETYLENE LAMP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3. I915.

' Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

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JOHN M. BROCK, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ACETYLENE-LAMP.

Application filed June 3, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. BRooK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Acetylene-Lamps, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

My invention relates to improvements in acetylene lamps and particularly to miners acetylene cap lamps.

The object of the invention is to provide a lamp which, while simple and economical in construction, will automatically regulate the supply of water to the carbid in such a manner as to insure a proper supply of gas.

Vith this general object in view, the invention consists in the features, details of construction and combinations of parts, which will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawings and then particularly pointed out.

In the drawingsFigure 1 is a sectional view of one form of miners acetylene cap lamp, provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2, Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a detail view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the water receptacle, 2 the carbid receptacle, 3 the burner tube, 4 the burner and 5 the reflector of an ordinary type of miners acetylene cap lamp.

ater from the water receptacle 1 is discharged from the water receptacle through a watersupply tube 6, the rate of flow of the water being limited by a rod 7 which is suitably held in place in the center of the tube 6. This is accomplished, in the present example, by providing the under side of the top of the lamp with a nut 8, fixed thereto, into which is threaded the upper end of the rod 7, as shown in Fig. 1. The lower end of the rod extends down into the lower part of the carbid receptacle 2, and is provided with a downwardly tapered head or button 9,-the purpose of which will be explained hereinafter.

The lower end of the water-supply tube 6 terminates within a larger tube 10, which is telescopic on the said tube 6, that is to say, the tube 10 can slide up and down on said tube 6. The lower end of the telescopic tube 10 is provided with a suitable outward Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

Serial No. 31,836.

extending enlargement, as indicated at 11, for a purpose hereinafter explained, the exterior diameter of this enlargement being not larger than the exterior diameter of the head 9. The lower end of the telescopic tube 10 is arranged to contact with the upper face of the head 9, but does not make a water-tight joint therewith.

The telescopic tubelO is arranged to be carried by what may be termed a float device, since this device is so arranged as to rest upon the carbid in the carbid container and to be lifted by the carbid as the latter expands or swells when acted upon by the water. In the present example this socalled float device comprises a disk 12, advantageously provided with perforations for a purpose hereinafter explained. The disk is advantageously of such a diameter that the usual lump carbid employed with lamps of this kind cannot readily escape around the edge of the disk.

The telescopic tube 10 is provided with an opening or openings, as indicated at 13, these being arranged only near the top of the tube 10 and just under the disk 12. Thus the tube 10 is imperforate throughout the greater part of its length and it is provided with water overflow outlets only at or near its upper end.

The operation of the device described is as follows: When the carbid receptacle is filled in the usual way, that is to say, about one half full, it is pushed upward into engagement with the remainderof the lamp and screwed into place. In doing this the head or button 9, the rod 7 and the telescopic tube 10 are pushed into the carbid, this being done readily because the downward taper of the head 9 serves to push the carbid lumps aside and thus allow it to enter the carbid without any especial resistance, thus clearing the way for the tube 10 which readily follows the head 9 downwardly because, as before stated, the external diameter of the enlargement 11 does not exceed that of the head.

When the water receptacle 1 is filled to the required extent the water will flow, at a rate whose maximum is predetermined, through the water-supply tube 6, in the space around the rod 7, into the interior of the telescopic tube 10. From here it will escape over the top surface of the head 9, into the carbid near the bottom of the re- .tube 10 to the carbid is raised.

ceptacle and combine with it to setfree the acetylene gas which rises in the usual way and passes to the burner.

As the carbid slacks it forms a sludge which tends to clog up the opening at the bottom of the telescopic tube, but also, at the same time, the carbid, as acted upon by the water, expands and thus lifts the unslaked carbid above it. This causes the float device, in this case the disk 12, to move upward gradually, thereby drawing upward the telescopic tube 10. Owing to the outward extension 11, at the lower end of the latter, the sludge is broken, cracked or opened, in such a way as to. facilitate the escape of water through the sludge to the unslaked carbid, and also the lower end of the said tube 10 is lifted so that the level at which the water escapes from the lower end of the After the carbid has swelled to a certain extent due to the supply of-water from the lower end of the tube, the sludge finally tends to choke the flow at the bottom of the tube, so that it is less than the discharge from the watersupply tube 6. In consequence, the water level rises in the telescopic tube 10, until it reaches the openings in the upper end of said tube 10, whereupon it overflows and spreads through that part of the carbid near the top. If theopenings in the tube 10 should be clogged the water will overflow over the disk 12, passing through the perforations therein and thence onto the carbid.

In Fig. 3 is illustrated a modification of the invention, in which a shut-off valve is employed to control the inlet of water to the water supply tube. For this purpose the upper end of the rod indicated at 7 is extended above the top of the water receptacle and screw-threaded into a nut 8, carried by a stationary member secured to the top of thewater receptacle. In the present instance I this stationary member consists of a yoke 11. The top of the water receptacle is provided with a nut 15 into which is screwthreaded a. tubular valvedevice 16, whose lower end is; arranged to close water tight against the upper end of the water-supply tube 6. For this purpose the meeting surfaces of the two tubes are correspondingly tapered, as shown in Fig. 3. The top end of the .valve device is provided with a milled head 17. By rotatingthis milled head the valve device is raised or lowered, to open or shut the valve inlet.

It is to be noted that, in both constructions, the rods 7 or 7 may be unscrewed and withdrawn, thus permitting the telescopic tube to be taken out, together with the float device or disk. In this way the parts may be cleaned or replaced when injured.

In practice it has been found that a lamp provided with the present invention will deliver the water automatically to the carbid at a sufliciently close approach to uniformity to insure a reasonably regular gas production. All manipulation of the lamp by the miner is avoided and a good flame obtained. Owing to the automatic action of the mechanism in maintaining the water flow, a more nearly uniform gas pressure and therefore a more nearly uniform light is obtained than with lamps in which manual operation at intervals is required to determine the water feed to the carbid.

The structure is such that the lamp will endure much rough handling and still be operative. This is in part due to the outward extension of the bottom end of the telescopic tube, which becomes anchored in the carbid and sludge to a sufficient extentto hold the disk in contact with the carbid in case the lamp is dropped. In this way carbid cannot easily enter the space above the disk, orat least not to a sufficient extent to affect the operation of the device.

It has been found in practice that the lamp above described in operation will endure considerable shocks without the flame being extinguished. For example, during blasting in the mines, the light is not extinguished even when closer to the blast than is safe for a miner. I have not yet determined the reason for this resistance to extinguishment from blasts but merely state it as a fact.

What I claim is: I

1. In an acetylene lamp, the combination with a water reservoir, a carbid receptacle, and a water supply tube arranged to conduct water from the water receptacle to the carbid receptacle, of a rod extending through the water-supply tube and provided with a head arranged to be embedded in the carbid belowtheend of the water-supply tube, a telescopic tube surrounding the 'rod, and means actuated by the expansion of the carbid and arranged to move the telescopic tube with relation to the carbid as the latter eX pands.

2. In an acetylene lamp, the combination, with a water-reservoir, a carbid receptacle, and a water-supply tube arranged to conduct water from the water receptacle to the carbid receptacle, of a restricting rod extending through the water-supply tube and arranged to predetermine the maximum flowof water therethrough, said rod having a head arranged to be embedded in the carbid below the end of the water-supply tube, a telescopic tube surrounding the rod and movable with relation to the water-supply tube, said head limiting the downward movementof the telescopic tube, and means resting on-.the carbid and arranged to be lifted by the expansion of the carbid, said means being attached to the telescopic tube.

3.. In an acetylene lamp, the combination, with awater-reservoir, a carbid-receptacle,

'and a water-supply tube arranged to conduct water from the water receptacle to the carbid receptacle, of a rod extending through the water-supply tube and provided with a head tapering downward and arranged to be embedded in the carbid, a telescopic tube surrounding the rod and having an open lower end arranged to contact with the upper surface of the rod head, said telescopic tube having an outward extending enlargement for engaging the carbid, and means actuated by the expansion of the carbid for moving the telescopic tube relative to the carbid in the receptacle.

4. In an acetylene lamp, the combination, with a water reservoir, a carbid receptacle, and a water-supply tube arranged to conduct water from the water-receptacle to the carbid receptacle, of a rod extending through the water-supply tube and provided with a head arranged to be embedded in the carbid, a telescopic tube surrounding the rod and having an open lower end and an opening in its wall near its upper end, and means resting on the carbid and arranged to be lifted by the expansion of said carbid, said means being attached to the telescopic tube.

5. In an acetylene lamp, the combination, with a water-reservoir, a carbid-receptacle, a water-supply tube arranged to conduct water from the water-receptacle to the carbidre'ceptacle, a stationary nut secured to the water receptacle and a rod screwed into the said nut and extending through the watersupply tube and arranged to be embedded in the carbid, said rod being provided with a head below the end of the water-supply tube, of a telescopic tube surrounding the rod and arranged to be embedded in the carbid, said telescopic tube having an open lower end and an opening in its wall near its upper end, and means actuated by the expansion. of the carbid and arranged to move the telescopic tube.

6. In an acetylene lamp, the combination, with a water reservoir, a carbid-receptacle, and a water-supply tube arranged to conduct water from the water receptacle to the carbid-receptacle, of a rod extending through the water-supply tube and provided with a head arranged to be embedded in the carbid below the lower end of said water-supply tube, a vertically movable telescopic tube surrounding said rod and limited as to downward movement by a rod head, said telescopic tube being provided substantially at its lower end with sludge-disturbing means, the external diameter of said means being no greater than the external diameter of the rod head, and means connected to the telescopic tube and actuated by the expansion of the carbid for moving the telescopic tube vertically.

7. In an acetylene lamp, the combination, with a water reservoir, a carbid-receptacle. and a stationary water-supply tube arranged to conduct water from the water reservoirto the carbid-receptacle, of a telescopic tube vertically movable outside of said stationary tube and extending when in its lowermost position into the lower part of said carbid receptacle, means secured to said telescopic tube and actuated by expansion of the carbid in said receptacle for lifting said telescopic tube, said telescopic tube being provided substantially at its lower end with means adapted to break up or disturb carbid sludge when the telescopic tube is lifted and thus to facilitate access of water to fresh carbid.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN M. BROOK.

Witnesses:

A. WHITE, J. F. DONOVAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

